Decoupage Wild Birds On Eggs

"God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves,
with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every
winged bird after its kind;..." Genesis 1:21

       The birds shown in the photo above were decoupaged onto flat, egg-shaped, cardboard cut-outs using magazine pages and a bird book cover from a child's ornithology text book. To make some eggs similar to our own you may download printable birds from the samples restored under my Paper Doll Workshop page.
       "The common name for a bird in the Hebrew Scriptures, is tzephur, the rapid mover, or harrier; a name very expressive of these volatile creatures. A more general and indefinite name is ouph, a flier; but this appellation denotes every thing that flies whether bird or insect. It is frequently translated "fowl" in the English Bible. A bird of prey is called oith, a rusher, from the impetuosity with which is rushes upon its prey. In several of the passages where it occurs, our translators have rendered its plural form by "fowls."

• Find printable cardinals and tanajers here.
• Find printable finches here.

'Nesting Chicken' Easter Egg

Little hen nesting in an Easter egg.

       Turn a half egg into a grass-lined nest for a hen. This makes a clever little ornament to hang on an egg tree at Easter or if you prefer, on a Christmas tree.

• See more animals made for a Vintage Easter Display...
  
• DIY Broody Hens with pom-poms here. - alternative chicken body types instead of the cotton batting one shown on this post.
• and The simplest pom-pom hens for your youngest students here - at our doll blog
  

Supplies Needed:

• A plastic egg, just lower half
  
• 3 cotton balls
• white school glue
• masking tape
• one chenille stem
• a few goose down feathers or white feathers
• watercolors
• dried grass to line the 'egg' nest
• decorative paper and trim for the egg

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the plastic egg and keep only the lower half for this particular craft. 
2. Cover the entire part of the egg with masking tape, neatly smoothing out wrinkles with your thumbnail as you go.
3. Decoupage decorative paper on the outside of the egg. Let dry.
4. Attach a handle to the inside of the egg using masking tape.
   
5. Puddle the glue on the inside and line the egg with craft grass of some kind.
6. To shape the hen, cut from a wire two inches and bend the tip into a 'hook' shape as seen in the photo below. 
7. Wrap the wire with a fine layer of glue and twist the cotton batting onto it in layers to shape a hen's beak, head, neck and body.
8. It is not necessary to add or shape the legs of the hen as she is in the seated position, tucked into the dried grassy nest. Puddle the glue generously and tuck her down into the nest.
9. Let her dry in place before adding down feather where her wings and tail should be. 
10. Shape the comb and paint this with red watercolor. Glue it on.
11. Paint the beak yellow and then the eyes.
12. Shape a fancy hook from the left over wire.
    

How to shape the head and neck of the hen from wire and cotton.

Steps for assembling the egg basket and pasting in the parts.

A soft, small hen nestled inside the lower half of a decoupaged Easter egg makes nice addition to egg tree.

"Which came first, the chicken
 or the egg," sung by Mike Stewart

How to make maritime scrap collage eggs . . .

Decoupage flat eggs with Maritime themes for the Easter egg tree.

       Cardboard egg cut-outs with sea or ocean themed subjects. I used the following items to embellish these scrapbook egg ornaments: blue ribbon, tiny real shells, nautical stamps, reprints of Victorian die cuts and Mod Podge. Below are a few of my own printables that students may use to craft their own versions, if the like.

• Victorian print of children playing on the beach here. - This print would also look nice on an egg too.
• Visit the out Beacon Chapel, a safe internet 'harbor' and space to weather the storms of life...
• Read about the significance of light houses as Christian symbolism
•  The symbolic connections between the escallop sea shell and Christianity
• Why Christians use anchor symbolism
  

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut out cardboard shaped eggs.
2. Glue on decorative papers to both sides. 
3. String blue ribbon through a hole inside a real shell (puka shell) and then through the top of each egg.
4. Apply a generous amount of white glue to the shell hanger to prevent it from working loose from the hole.
5. Brush on Mod Podge to add stamps, die cuts and any other interesting pictures or text to the maritime egg creations.
   

Antique shell paper

Etching of ships

Sailor boy die cut

The 'Unbreakable' Easter Eggs

Two plastic egg versions decoupaged with yellow
and green tissues and trimmed with ribbons.

       The 'unbreakable' egg in this instance will not be totally lost if it falls from the branches of an egg tree; it will, however, break if you run over it with a truck. So, I guess it is still breakable but just not in all instances like the common egg! And as always, the abilities of the crafter are more apparent within the aesthetics of the resulting egg. For some this process is heavenly, for others it will look like a 'hot mess.' Just keep practicing...

• To see how to decoupage a pattern or scene from a napkin onto an Easter egg.
  

Supplies Needed: 

• plastic eggs
• masking tape
• tissue papers
• decorative trims
• tacky craft glue
• Mod Podge
• ribbon, twine or wire for hanging

Left, see tiny holes at the top and bottom of the eggs; you can thread a ribbon or twine
through these holes to hang the eggs from an egg tree. Right, large plastic eggs used
for decoupage from our local Dollar Store.

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First insert the hanger for your eggs through the wholes provided at one of the ends of the egg. You can hide the knot if you like on the inside of the egg so that it will not be seen. Then pull the hanger up through the outside of the egg.
2. Snap together the two halves of your plastic egg and use masking tape to keep the seam closed.
3. Cover the entire surface of the plastic egg now with masking tape. Use the tip of your finger nails to smooth out wrinkles and creases made by the tape.
4. Using small amounts of white school glue or Mod Podge, apply the tissue wherever you find it pleasing. Do cover the entire surface with the tissue. This process takes time because you must wait for areas of the egg to dry before moving on to other areas to cover. 
5. Once all of the egg is decoupaged, glue on the fancier trims if there are any.
6. Mod Podge the entire finished tissue surfaces of the Easter egg left exposed.
7. Hand your creation from anywhere on an egg tree. If it falls off the branches, this particular kind of egg will not break as will an actual egg.
   

Strawberry Easter Eggs

Strawberry eggs displayed with grass and pedestals.

      The gradient on these eggs is produced by leaving the lower sections of the egg in the red dye for longer periods of time, gradually removing the dye so that the upper-most sections are pinker to white. To make a perfect strawberry egg one must use a bit of timing and have a handy eye-dropper or nasal aspirator to help the process along the way... The more gradual the color change is from one end to the other is what folks predetermine to be superior dye job. However, I'm not such a stickler about Easter eggs. I like them all really and have enjoyed eating them perfect or not!

 

Left, hard boiling white eggs. Center, gradually remove dye with aspirator. Right, polished with
cooking oil and ready to eat.

How To Make Perfect Strawberry Easter Eggs:

1. Hard boil a set of white eggs prior to the dying process. Let them cool but do not remove the shells.
2. Make the egg dye with red food coloring only. Boil in the kettle approximately one and a half cups of water. You will need only as much water as is necessary to cover one egg entirely after it is  submerged in the dye bath. 
3. Pour approximately one cup of the boiling water into a heat proof mug or dish.
4. Add one Tablespoon of white vinegar to the water in the mug.
5. Add 5 to 6 drops of red food dye into the water and stir. It is important that you make this dye very bright red. Have a second empty mug next to the one filled with dye so that you can save the dye removed for another strawberry egg.
6. Now submerge the white egg into the red dye with the narrow end pointing up.
7. Using an eye-dropper or aspirator to suck up just enough of the dye to reveal the tip of the egg after only a few seconds. This will be the whitest or palest part of the strawberry egg once the dying process is finished. Discard the extra dye into a spare container and repeat the removal of dye in the same way every few minutes. The egg will eventually be turned right-side up once the dying is done.
   
8. Let the eggs air dry on a dish towel.
9. Draw the tiny black seeds on the eggs using a black permanent ink pen.
10. To add the caps, Mod Podge small green leaves to the wider top end of the strawberries if you prefer. I don't usually add the caps. I nestle these strawberry eggs inside of green cupcake liners at each brunch plate.
11. Rub on a very light coating of cooking oil, using a paper napkin, to give the eggs a slight shine.
12. Refrigerate till the next morning, Easter Sunday.
13. Decorate an Easter brunch table with these eggs, crack to open and peal shell off.
14. Crumble the hard boiled egg, sprinkle with salt and pepper and eat promptly with hash browns and sausage!

More Strawberry Themed Crafts for Fans of the Fruit:

• How to make cotton batting strawberries for a feather tree or a larger Christmas tree indoors.
• Folk paint a charming jewelry box with strawberries for dollhouse play.
  

Puzzle Eggs and Game Extension Ideas

 Make learning fun for your kids this Easter with this inexpensive handmade gift for Easter baskets.

      Here is a new twist on an old idea, craft egg puzzles for children ages three through seven, using multiple decorative papers and eggs shapes cut from heavy poster board. You will also need white school glue and a sharp pair of scissors. 

      Start teaching with just one egg puzzle then gradually add more eggs to children's egg puzzle collection with different patterns. 

       Store all of the egg puzzle pieces together. Then children will need to separate related patterns and colors from that group before beginning to assemble each egg. Both the sorting activities and the fitting of pieces together are excellent practice for early readers!

• What children know and need to learn about patterns and algebraic thinking. - from Stanford University, and learning these must begin early folks!
• Read about The Power of Color from Montessori.org
• Fun and Easy Tips for Setting Up A Preschool Puzzle Center! - excellent advice from PreK Pages! Not all children think the same way about puzzles. I began teaching puzzles to my students at three years of age. They grew to love this exercise! Start with very easy wooden puzzles.

See how the eggs are cut into puzzle pieces.

 

Step-by-Step Instructions for Parents/Older Siblings:

1. You can use any flat egg template to make your own versions of these egg puzzles or draw your own. Eggs don't need to be all the same size either; these may vary in size and proportion.
2. Cut out the egg pattern, trace around it on top of poster board. Repeat and cut out as many eggs as you like.
3. Brush on white school glue to one side of the poster cut outs. Press on colorful wrapping papers or decorative scrapbook papers. Use only one kind of printed wrapping paper per egg. The more distinct the papers are from each other, the better. Remember these puzzles are for children ages three to seven.
4. To increase the difficulty of putting the puzzles together you can: multiply the number of eggs, mix the pieces together in the same box/bag, make the pieces for each puzzle smaller or increase the number of puzzle pieces included for each egg. Watch your child putting the eggs together closely in order to determine what changes to make for this game in the future.
5. Decoupage a small box or sew a simple draw string bag to store the handmade egg puzzles together. Gift them for Easter in a basket if you like.
   

More Puzzle Crafts:

• Printable jigsaw puzzle templates

Bumble Bee Easter Eggs

An example of the second to largest pattern for fabric eggs.
follow the link below to download your own patterns.

        Read instructions and make an endless supply of fabric eggs in five different sizes! Above you can see my own versions of a large fabric egg and a very small one to hang on an Easter egg tree below. Both are made from honey sweet flannel fabric scraps. I also appliqued even more bumble bees cut from that same cloth to further exaggerate the bees on my eggs and tacked on lace ''wings'' as well.

 

More fun bee hive crafts for little ones...

• Craft a Faux "Straw" Skep Hive for a Doll
• DIY a Bee Hive for Your Dolls
• Make a skep hive dollhouse craft
  

Three different sides of the same bumble bee Easter egg.

The smallest egg size you can make from the 5 egg size pattern is just right for
hanging on delicate branches. Here it is balanced on the edge of a skep hive.

Sew a few vintage velvet carrots to display among your eggs...

Fresh looking Easter arrangement of eggs and carrots inside
 of a wire basket lined with a biscuit linen cover.

       Nestled among the green and white Easter eggs are a few vintage velvet carrots made from a simple free pattern, scraps of left-over textiles and olive silk tassels. Find the veggie patterns here, download and read how to make them.

More Carrot Crafts for Easter:

• Craft spring carrot napkin rings for your Easter dinner...
  

Color The Heavens on Easter Eggs!

Some folks call these Easter creations 'galaxy' eggs, but I just call them 'heavenly.'

       These heavenly looking Easter eggs are first colored while hot and then dipped in food color once they have cooled down. Go to our Easter blog for detailed instructions and more photos of our results!

• The most wonderful part of heaven, is the Son waiting there for us...

Use older crayons with intense pigment from Crayola to get the nicest results...

Learn about Ukrainian inspired Easter eggs...

       Above are just a few of our jewel-toned, intricately painted Pysanky eggs. You can visit our Easter blog to discover the history behind the delightful egg painting traditions in the country where Pysanky have always been painted, the Ukraine. Below is a famous book about Pysanky by Patricia Polacco that many children in the United States read together along with their families and churches during Easter celebrations.

• How To Make Pysanky Eggs

LeVar Burton presents "Rechenka's Eggs" all 

about Ukrainian painted eggs.. 

How to craft faux chocolate eggs for your egg tree...

Fake chocolatey eggs, bunnies and flowers adorn these homemade eggs hanging from pussy willow branches.

       These decorated cardboard eggs look good enough to eat! But, don't even try unless your looking for a good excuse to visit the dentist! Read how to craft faux chocolates at the our Easter blog to make some just like these if you wish...

• The Awesome Easter Surprise by Bible Society
• Color your own hatching egg picture 

Detail of a Heraldic Design for Coloring

Coloring Page Description: heraldic design, crest, sheild, acanthus, lions, angel harp, crown, knight's helmet

Don't forget to drag the png. into a Word Document an enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this adult coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.